Eule

This is not an uncommon occurence. :) When you're at the dropzone for your student jumps, ask some of the tandem students about this - you'll find that a lot of them meant to come with a group of 5 or 6 people, but more and more of them bailed out as the day approached. One lady I talked to last summer was supposed to come with her brother and some of his buddies from work, but the guys - all firefighters - bailed out... Most likely, you don't _have_ to do anything other than show up on the day of your class with whatever paperwork the DZ requires. You might need to bring your ID to sign another waiver, for instance. The best way to find out is to ask the DZ when you book your class. Disclaimer: I am a new jumper myself, so take all of this with a grain of salt. Also, listen to your instructors. What they say takes precedence over anything you read here, in print, or scratched on the wall of the men's room at the DZ. If you have any questions, ask your instructor - there are no stupid questions. Having said that... If you _want_ to study up before you take the class, there are some online resources. You may have already found the "learn to skydive" stuff here. The United States Parachute Association (USPA) publishes the Skydiver's Information Manual (SIM). It is updated every year and you can buy a paper copy from USPA, read it online, or download it as a PDF here. The 2007 edition will probably come out sometime in September, so if you want to save a few bucks, you might read it online now and wait on buying one until the new edition is out. There are also some books you can read. I read this one before I started my training and this one came out a little later - both are aimed at the new skydiver. I think that reading the book was helpful, at least for the ground school part of the class. As far as gear goes, the use of all the gear you will need for the jump should be covered in the price of the jump, at least for the first several jumps. The only piece of gear I bought early on was a set of goggles. I wear glasses and the DZ only had a couple of pair of over-the-glasses goggles. One pair was pretty good and the other pair was kind of beat. I usually managed to score the good pair, but one day, there was another four-eyed student there who got the good pair first. He got down before I went, so I got to use the good pair - after I took them to the bathroom and cleaned all the sweat off of them. After that I got my own pair. You may be able to get some things at the DZ, or there are several online and mail-order places. A couple of pieces of advice (but remember what I said about asking your instructors): 1. Relax! At first you will wonder why everyone is saying this to you. Later on you'll figure it out. :) 2. Don't freak out if you end up having to do one or more AFF levels over again. Some people make it right through in the minimum number of jumps but most people (IMHO) repeat at least one level. Welcome! Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Here's a thread from last spring on this subject. As another data point, the US Census (would they lie to you?) says that about 12.8% of the US population is black and about 80.4% is white. In other words, _if_ US skydivers had the same mix as the general population, then the average 10-way would have something like 8 white jumpers, 1 black jumper, and one jumper of some other race, probably Asian. But, you could use the same logic to argue that half of all jumpers should be women, and that clearly isn't the case. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

It sort of reminds me of the photos I've seen of a Paradactyl, but I've never seen one up close. I can see it now... Harbor Freight Discount Tools and Rigging Loft. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

I should clarify that I didn't have anything to do with making that video; it was made by Burk Reiman. It was second place in the Skydive Radio video contest a couple of months ago and that's how I found out about it. I figured that any pilot who has ever flown a 182 would probably find it funny, but I hope I didn't scare u206driver off... Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

When you post an ad for a complete system, the existing form does have boxes for make, model, size, DOM, serial, etc in addition to the subject line and free-form text box. It looks like one of the Premier features is the ability to turn off the seller-provided Subject line and just see what was input in those boxes. I think what you propose would still be useful, though, for two reasons: one, it would make it easier to visually scan the list of items, and two, it would make the search work better. Right now the classifieds search only seems to search the seller-provided Subject lines and free-form text, but not the individual data fields. A generated Subject line would make the Subject line search work better. (The Right Thing[tm] is probably to make the search function smarter - more able to search individual ad fields.) Perhaps one way would be to combine the seller-provided Subject line and the specs generated from the ad. I have attached a couple of images showing how this might look. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

I don't think fun-jumpers (not people who work at the DZ) know this, either. Well, they know how much is coming out of their pocket, but they don't know how many people it goes to or how much each one gets. I am not saying that a DZ should post this information up on the wall or anything like that; even publically traded companies don't have to go into that much detail on how their income, cost, and profits break down. What I am saying is that I don't think a lot of people know "how works a DZ". They know bits and pieces of the equation, but not the whole thing. Maybe if more fun-jumpers knew this, they'd understand why things are the way they are. Obviously there is a continuum, from the club that has one 182, to a "regional" DZ that runs an Otter and a Caravan, all the way up to a "big" DZ that has three Otters and two Caravans and a King Air and a DC-3 and a wind tunnel and a bar. But there are some common features; part of each lift ticket puts fuel in the airplane, pays the note or rent on the plane, pays the A&P to come out and preen it every so often, pays the pilot, pays some of the lease and light bill for the hanger, and at a commercial DZ, puts a little money in the owner's pocket. That's just for a fun jump; something like a tandem or AFF costs the jumper more, but more of that money goes back out to the instructor, upkeep of the gear, etc. The DZO would probably love to have a plane full of tandems with video on every single load, and would probably go broke with a plane full of fun jumpers on every single load - somewhere in between there is a balance. I haven't been jumping for long, but I think Ron's point that jumping reflects the larger economy is probably true. The US stock market has basically gone nowhere for the past five years. Taking a longer view, since WWII, the US stock market went crazy, went flat, went crazy, and has now gone flat again. More specifically... Jan 1948 - Dec 1965 462.8% in 18 years Jan 1966 - Dec 1982 9.4% in 17 years Jan 1983 - Dec 1999 917.1% in 17 years Jan 2000 - Dec 2005 -0.5% in 6 years (Source: Yahoo! Finance historical quotes for the Dow Jones Industrial Average; monthly prices from Jan 1946 to Jan 2006. I have the spreadsheet I used if anyone is interested.) On the other hand, if you plot the USPA membership numbers (from Dan Poynter's site and the recent USPA membership survey results), they flattened out before the stock market did. From about 1992 to 1996, USPA averaged about 10.6% membership growth per year. From 1997 to 2006, the average was an 0.01% decline per year. If anyone has USPA membership numbers for earlier than 1992, I would like to see them. It might also be interesting to figure USPA membership as a fraction of the total US population - I know not all USPA members live in the US, but I would guess that a high and fairly steady share of them do. Can I put in for my "data wonk" badge now? :) Eule Edited for typo PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

In my limited experience, the people in charge at the DZ try to make sure the beer fines rotate appropriately. There is usually always beer, but it's not the same people buying it every week. If you live in a theocracy that is cursed with 3.2% beer (aka low-point beer), almost any full-strength beer (5% or more) is a good choice - especially if it's not readily available locally and you have to smuggle it in from a neighboring democracy. But given equal strength beer, there are lots of opinions on what's "decent". It occurs to me that "preferred beer brand(s)" should be another data point for the dropzone listings on this site, right along with the jump ticket prices and aircraft types. A beer strategy I have developed at a smaller dropzone in a theocracy where you can only buy 3.2% beer on Sunday: Bring full-strength beer when you come out on Saturday, but keep the cooler in the trunk Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, when everyone realizes they drank all their beer on Saturday and is starting to panic at the prospect of drinking 3.2% beer or going dry, mention that you've still got some real beer in your cooler. You will instantly become the most popular person at the dropzone. :) Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

QuoteFrom what I heard they lost a lot of product and swore never to work with jumpers again. (emphasis added) I know you mean that in terms of a swindle where they didn't get paid for the product, but it sounds like it could have gone like this... Rep: Hey, you guys wanna try out these new goggles we're coming out with? Jumpers: Sure! Rep: Here ya go... (passes out goggles) Jumpers: Hey, those look nice... they fit pretty well... Are you sure the strap doesn't get any tighter? Rep: No, that's the way it's designed. Jumpers: OK, we'll take 'em up on the next jump. Rep: Great! (next jump happens, jumpers land) Rep: So, how did it go...hey... none of you are wearing them! Jumpers: We had them on when we exited... we _told_ you they needed tighter straps! Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

I don't know... us jumpers keep trying to talk to you guys, but you always wear those headsets, so we are forced to use the I'd-like-to-leave-the-plane-now lever to get your attention. :) I know diverdriver is one and I'm sure there are more. You might ask in the General or possibly the Bonfire forums. Welcome! Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

QuoteDoes anyone in Oklahoma have any more information on this operation? I haven't heard of it, but I've only been around for about a year and I make no claims to knowing it all. :) The sectional chart shows a private airport "Paradise" with a parachute symbol near Goldsby. Cross-referencing with an ODOT highway map, it's on the west side of OK 24, about halfway between I-44 and OK-74B. Googling for "goldsby skydive" yields this, where one poster claims the DZ in Goldsby closed in 2003. (Link goes to Google cache as the original page appears to be gone.) There is also this, which appears to be a list of dropzones, that mentions Goldsby. It is dated March-April 2003. (Again, link goes to Google cache as the original page appears to be gone.) diverdriver has a NTSB report from 1985 that mentions jumping in Goldsby. This doesn't mean a whole lot, but it never showed up on the DZ list on this site, at least according to the Wayback Machine. There is a DZ (Pegasus Skydiving) over in Chickasha, which is about 25 miles east of Goldsby. But as far as I know it has not closed. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Thanks! At SiloTunnel, we always enjoy hearing from our customers. AggieDave's suggestion has resulted in a revision to the original design - see attached. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

I suspect the broken search function is the problem here. It appears that posts from approximately 13 Jan 2006 to 27 May 2006 have not been indexed for searching. The posts are still there; they just don't show up on a search. These dates are based on searching for my own posts, as well as those of a couple of frequent posters. Take a look at this search for your posts; scroll about halfway down and you'll see a jump in the "Post time" column from 11 Jan to 31 May. Just by going back through the regular forum pages, I think I found the post you are looking for. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

I think that it probably wouldn't be economically feasible, but it's fun to think about. It's sort of in the same league as sitting around the DZ in the evening, drinking beer, and trying to figure out how big of a big-way you could launch from a Super Guppy or how many loads per hour you could get with an SR-71. Your options here are probably one or more piston engine(s) or electric motor(s). The exhaust from a turbine would be too hot to use directly; if it would be _really_ expensive to string new electric lines to your silo, it _might_ be feasible to use a turbine and a generator to make electricity. Most commercial tunnels seem to choose electric motors, probably because they can be run efficiently at a wide range of speeds and are fairly reliable (many fewer moving parts than an engine). If you wanted to run a piston engine, you'd probably want a big diesel, as they are slightly more efficient than a gasoline engine. I think the portable wind tunnels often have diesel engines. As to how much power you need, I seem to recall a figure of 1200 hp (900 kW) for one of the tunnels. To put a rough number on it, Grainger (not the cheapest place to buy motors, I know) sells a 250 hp (188 kW) motor, no. 5N354, for $11,754; five of these would get you 1250 hp for just under $59,000. Then you get to buy the variable frequency drives for them - Grainger 5HV34 will run a 125 hp motor for $13,412, so ten of those would cost just over $134,000. You also probably get to buy 1000 kVA or so of power transformer, plus wire, conduit, etc. For a diesel, a price I found here on a _rebuilt_ 250 hp Caterpillar diesel engine is $9695, or $48,475 for five of them. You will also get to buy an air filter, radiator, fuel tank, etc. Putting the power source on top is not something to take lightly. This means that your structure has to support the weight of the power source and the fan(s). The electric motors above weigh about 2,000 pounds (910 kg) apiece, so your structure has to support at least 10,000 pounds (4550 kg) fairly high up in the air. I don't know what the diesel engines weigh but I suspect they might be slightly lighter. Putting the power source on the ground is probably a lot cheaper in terms of construction costs. This is probably the biggest problem you have. If you dig out too much, the silo will fall down, and adding reinforcement to keep that from happening is not easy. One alternative would be to make lots of little holes in the silo wall down low, but this would also weaken the walls and create a lot of air restriction besides. You might be able to use a "tube inside a tube" design - go to Bodyflight Bedford's site and click on the "our facilities" tab (no direct link possible as it's all in Flash, ugh) to see one example. That tunnel is completely recirculating; it might be slightly easier to have a total-loss design. One advantage to doing this is that the diameter of the test section is smaller, which means that you don't need as much power to move the air. The 180-degree turn that the air has to do at the bottom might be interesting, though. See the attached cross-section sketch. It's not in the sketch, but to get into the test section, you'd climb some stairs outside the silo, go through a door in the outer wall, across a walkway, and through a door into the test section. If it's rough concrete you might want to smooth it. IIRC, the walls are just smooth concrete once you get above the glassed-in area in SVAZ. You'd probably have to have at least the mesh below. You probably need the mesh up top if you have a sucker, but you may or may not need it if you have a blower. See above for some of the costs. Another idea would be to spend much less than the above on some pumps, pipes, water tanks, electric lights, and a generator with a really good muffler. That way you could grow plants inside the silo. I hear that if you choose the right crop, you can make enough money to afford quite a bit of tunnel time. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Disclaimer: I am pretty new myself, so take any or all of this with a grain of salt. The minimum is 25 jumps, which means you have to average a touch over 3 jumps per weekend, which isn't impossible. At least at first, you will probably do a max of 2 or 3 jumps a day, but later, you might do more. Some of it depends on external factors like the weather, although one saying I've heard is "you can't skydive from your couch" - meaning, go to the dropzone anyway and hang out and if the weather does improve, you're ready to go. Also, even if the weather's crappy, you can do things like learning to pack. Best bet would be to call the DZ and ask. Second best bet would probably be to post in the Events and Places to Jump forum and mention the DZ in the subject line, like "Transportation to Skydive Long Island" or similar. You might even find somebody that can give you a ride sometimes. They don't all have to be at one place. If you're still working on your A when you switch dropzones, don't be surprised if the new dropzone wants to have some assurance that you know what you're doing... they will probably want to look at your log book, and may have you talk to an instructor for a while, and/or maybe make a jump with a coach or instructor. It's not a big deal though. As to the money, the $2500-$3000 figure you quoted is probably a good ballpark figure. This averages out to $100-$120 a jump, which is about right. The first few jumps will be more than this and the last several will probably be less. Welcome! Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Scoop, Skydive Radio had an interview with Tanya O'Brien a few shows back and as I recall, they did discuss some "how to get started" kinds of things; it might be interesting to listen to. This was on show #41. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

I had the opposite thing happen earlier today. I was all caught up on the Announcements forum, but when I logged in, it said all 108 posts were new. I went in that forum and sure enough, everything was listed as new. I went back to the index and reloaded and the "108 new" indicators went away, just like normal. None of the new post markers in the other forums I read seem to have been affected. As has been suggested, you might try logging out, closing your browser, clearing all your cookies, and trying again. This may not help, but: you might also make sure the clock on your computer is accurate (both time and date) and set for the right time zone. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

The web page works for me as of the date of this post. It gives the phone numbers as "Tel: 6128-8492 Fax: 6121-3363" and the email address as [email protected] . The registration of the rawa.com.br domain shows the owner of the registration as "Rodrigo Nogueira Castilho" at [email protected] and the billing contact of the registration as "Radir Macedo" at [email protected]. The registration also seems to have expired and been renewed recently (20 May), which might have caused problems with the web page and email. I am not associated with Rawa in any way; I am just reporting on what I have found. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

QuoteYou could spray water, but the people at the Eloy tunnel don't seem to like it. I'm not sure what is being used now, but if it's the usual kind of mister you can get at the hardware store, I wonder if smaller droplets of water would help. Something like an ultrasonic humidifier or a high-pressure system (a few hundred PSI on up) with very fine nozzles. At Eloy, there are electric heaters on the ceiling of the antechamber for when it's cold out. I don't remember what they were rated, but I do remember that you probably wouldn't need nearly that many heaters to heat a similarly-sized room that didn't have all that air moving by it. Having said that, I wonder if providing air conditioning in the antechamber would be of any use. The idea would be to cool it off a bit in the antechamber, so you could cool off in there instead of waiting for the fans to shut down and going completely out. You'd have to use a split system, with the evaporator and fan inside the antechamber and the condenser, fan, and compressor outside it - you'd only be moving Freon, not air, into and out of the pressurized area. Just like the heaters, the system would have to be relatively huge for the size of the room. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

The Parachute Industry Association probably knows the figures, at least for the US market, but I don't know if they usually publish them or not. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

The airplanes are made out of metal, you don't have to spin the prop to start the engine, and the pilots don't wear goggles and scarves. :) I am a younger guy who just got started last year, so discount any or all of the following appropriately... The father of one of the regulars at the DZ I go to used to jump a lot back in the day. He came out one day to make a jump and he didn't have to do a lot of stuff, but a key point was that he still had his old rig. I _think_ he talked to the DZO and one of the instructors for a while, the rigger inspected and repacked both canopies and pronounced them good, and he was cleared to get on the plane. His jump went fine. If you want to study up first, there are some books aimed at new jumpers that might be helpful. I read this one before I took my first jump course and it was helpful in learning about the equipment, what the first couple of jumps would probably be like, etc. This book came out more recently and I haven't read it but it should be similar. Another source is the gear manufacturers - many of them have some or all of their owners manuals online. On the other hand, if you just go out to the dropzone, they should be able to show you everything you need to know. If you've got any of your old logbooks, you may want to dig them out. It probably depends a lot on the DZ, but they may feel better about having some evidence that you've done this stuff before. Also, you'll probably have to renew your USPA membership if you haven't already. USPA ought to be able to look you up by name and license number. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

Well, you probably could, but you just wouldn't have any idea if you're doing a good job or not (unless you're playing something you can feel, like a big drum or standup bass). If a hearing musician is doing a bad job, everybody gets mad at him or her for not realizing that it sounds bad; nobody can get mad at you on those grounds. On that note, I will admit that I feel a little silly for not remembering this and listing some of the stuff about phones. They do when I get done with them. :) As for the comments on the length of the list, some of my list-making comes from forgetting things and having to go back and get them or purchase an expensive replacement locally; both of these cost money which is better spent on beer, food, jumps, etc. I used to get nearly everything packed up the night before I went somewhere, instead of trying to remember to pack things first thing in the morning. I still do that sometimes, but if I just write out the list the night before, I find that I usually get everything I need on the list and can just check it off in the morning as I pack. I've slept under the stars, in a tent, in a trailer, and in a VW Bus. The trailer and Bus are nice in that as soon as you drop the trailer or pull the handbrake, camp is set up. Some friends of mine recently got an RV; it's sure comfortable but I don't know if I would want to camp that way. Ask me again in 20 years. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

After forgetting things a few times, I now make a checklist every time I'm going to the dropzone and planning on staying overnight. Electric pump? Spare batteries and fuse, manual pump as a backup. Or, the little plastic nozzle that lets you fill it from an air hose designed for a car tire. Duct tape for patching leaks and a thousand other uses. Maybe one of those sleeping-bag-sized rolls of foam in case the air mattress is a complete bust. Spare lamps (if so equipped) and spare batteries. Don't forget a hat. In most places it's nice and in someplace like Eloy it can be essential. You might make a couple of photocopies of your license and membership. Leave one copy at home and take one copy with you, but keep it in a different place than the actual documents. Along these lines, you may want to have the DOMs/serial numbers of your rig components written down somewhere other than on the rig. Same for your laptop, cell phone, etc. Plus enough change and/or prepaid phone card to make a couple of calls from a pay phone. (Kids, let me know if you need me to explain what a pay phone is.) I think public-use airports in the US are _required_ to have a pay phone (so pilots can get weather briefings, etc) and they aren't quite as rare as the cell phone propaganda would have you believe. The prepaid phone cards charge a pretty astounding premium for pay phone calls, like 30 minutes of time, but do work. If any of your rechargeable stuff takes standard-size batteries, you might want to have a set of alkalines as a backup. Sometimes you forget to charge the batteries or similar; the alkalines may not last too long but they're better than nothing. This bit is peculiar to North America: If you anticipate staying at a place with RV hookups, you might get one of those adapters that lets you plug a NEMA 5-15P plug (the normal plug that's on everything) into a NEMA TT-30R socket (the huge one with two angled flat blades and a ground pin) - this is the usual "30 amp" RV hookup. Most RV hookups have a normal outlet available, but some only have the 30 amp outlet. Any camping or RV store can sell you one and they're usually just a few bucks. You may want to use a cord that's got more than one socket on it, or bring a power strip as well. If you're taking a car, there can be a whole other list of stuff, depending on the age of the car, how much you trust it, and if you have an auto club membership or not. At the least, check all the fluids and make sure there is air in ALL the tires, INCLUDING THE SPARE. Checking the spare is a lot easier if you do it before you've put all the stuff in the trunk... Some other basics include road maps, weather/terrain gear as needed (snow chains? shovel to dig out of sand?), and gas station credit card(s). Alternative: a ski mask, a pistol, and a list of all the quickie marts nearby. Some other things: - Poncho/rain gear. You hope you won't need it but if you get rained in really good one day it's nice to not get soaked walking around camp. - Stakes and hammer for tent. I know a lot of modern tents don't "need" stakes to work, but it sucks when your tent blows halfway across the field (and maybe into a prop). - 50 to 100 feet (15 to 30 m) of rope. You can use it to fix or steady your tent, as a clothesline, to tie stuff onto the luggage rack of the car, etc. - Swiss army knife, Leatherman tool, or similar, with at least a knife blade for cutting the rope and a bottle opener. - Roll of toilet paper. - Roll of paper towels. - Matches (for starting campfires). - Medical paperwork, like an insurance card and maybe a list of medications you take regularly (if any). You didn't list any cooking stuff; even if you don't plan on cooking it might be good to take some plastic utensils for a big group dinner or something. Maybe some sandwich stuff in case you get hungry on the trip or at 3 AM. Some things that you can usually pick up once you arrive are firewood and . You may have to get the ahead of time in case you're traveling to a theocratic state (like Oklahoma) where the readily available is only 3.2%, or a semi-theocratic state (like Texas) that has dry counties. Have fun! Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

I've only got about 45 jumps, but all of them have been with my regular eyeglasses under goggles. I used the DZ's over-the-glasses goggles for the first few jumps, then bought my own pair of Flex-Z over-the-glasses goggles and they seem to work OK. There is a little bit of a trick to coordinating the glasses, goggles, and helmet - basically you are trying not to get the helmet to push the goggles around to where they are pushing on your glasses in a weird way. It sounds a lot worse than it is - if you spend a few minutes on the ground playing with it, you'll quickly figure out what you need to do to be comfortable. Once you think you've found a good setup, be sure to turn your head, look up and down, etc to make sure it works for all of the various positions your head needs to be in. If you just want to get familiar with what the dropzone looks like from the air, the DZ probably has an aerial photo of it that they will show you during your training. You might also find photos on a Web site; Google Maps doesn't have very good pictures of Wiltz, but perhaps another site does. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

See the handy-dandy glossary. Basically, it's an eight-way round formation; usually everyone is facing in. If you have sixteen jumpers, you can make two rings and connect them in inverse parallel. This gives you a TRIAC. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

If they won't take all the cool names you've thought up and keep insisting on a foreign scientist, ask for Bernoulli Ave. You'll still have the problem that nobody can spell or pronounce it, but at least it's more relevant to the business. Eule PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.